If an alcohol-free, halal Japanese steakhouse with a Brazilian twist and hints of Peru sounds like a challenging brief, chef Chase Kojima from the newly opened TokyoSamba isn’t letting on. The former executive chef at Pyrmont’s hatted Sokyo restaurant has swapped the inner-city suburb for Bankstown with his latest gig. And Kojima has embraced the challenge: he’s in the midst of research on whether the tiny traces of alcohol in vanilla essence preclude it from use.
TokyoSamba’s owners, who wish to remain anonymous, set the restaurant’s parameters, and Kojima explains the new arrival on West Terrace caters to its local market. “[Locals are] used to everything being halal,” he says. Regarding the requested Brazilian and Peruvian touches, Kojima, who held senior positions around the world with the Peruvian-Japanese Nobu chain, says he was familiar with the flavours.
“We’ve got a couple of Brazilians front of house,” he says. Kojima also lured some kitchen talent west: Sokyo veteran Tuan Colombo joined TokyoSamba as head chef and head sushi chef Yul Kim crossed from Bar Nine Omakase at The Rocks. TokyoSamba isn’t exclusive steak territory (although there are an awful lot of them).
The menu includes a miso Glacier 51 toothfish, lobster with kombu butter, yakitori spatchcock and an udon noodle carbonara. Sauces get adventurous, with pomegranate teriyaki, Brazilian miso barbecue and spicy samba butter. TokyoSamba is still trialling non-alcoholic wines before put.
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